Great Balls of Rice!

Meat AND cheese in the center!

Well, apologies to Jerry Lee Lewis, whoever that is, but mama thought it would be nice to share this very simple recipe for arancini (little oranges, because they are shaped like an orange–duh) with you, since it is one of the delightful dishes of Sicily and so easily done with leftover rice.

You have to use the round kind, Italian arborio, not the long-grain kind, because it’s a bit stickier and will hold together well after made into a risotto.

Everyone thinks risotto is difficult but it is NOT.  It takes a bit of time but that’s all.

Start with a large heavy pan so that as you stir, the rice will not burn or stick.

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cups round grain rice

1/2 cup white wine

4-5 cups heated chicken broth

1 large egg

Salt and pepper

FORMING AND SAUTEEING THE BALLS:

1 cup flour

2 beaten eggs

1 1/2 cups fine bread or cracker crumbs

1 cup olive oil

Tomato sauce/fresh basil

In the large heavy pan, put the olive oil and place the pan over medium heat for a minute or two.  Add the rice and stir very well for another minute to coat the grains and seal them well.  Add the white wine and stir until it disappears.  Start adding the chicken broth, a cup at a time, stirring all the while, but allowing for each cup to absorb into the rice mixture. When you can see no more liquid, for example, add another cup and stir. Add the broth until all is gone and the rice appears very creamy.  Taste a bit for texture–the rice should be very slightly chewy, “at the tooth”, al dente, as they describe it in Italy.

Stir in the egg and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to cook the rice balls in the olive oil, wet your hands and take a handful of rice, pressing a piece of mozzarella into the center of the form and completely covered by the rice.  Mama prefers doing the arancini a bit flattened as they cook better in the oil and only have to be turned once. An oval shape and slightly flattened works best.  Put the flour and breadcrumbs on separate plates (mama sometimes uses paper plates and then you just thrown them away afterward), and beat the eggs in a bowl.  Flour the arancini, then dip each cake in the beaten egg, then the bread crumbs.  When all are formed and ready, heat the olive oil and until golden on both sides. The cheese inside will melt nicely and be a surprise when you bite into the arancino.

If you are proud of your meat sauce for pasta, you made also put a small amount into the center of your arancini instead of mozzarella (see photo above).

When these cool, mama gives me a little with the cheese attached and I can only say, num, num!  A little bit of Sicily that she brought back to me (instead of a hand-painted ceramic kibble bowl!).  But I’m happy with my rice balls.

Almost as tasty as nip…